


So Who's Gonna Watch You

by WrittingSparxx



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hospitalization, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other, description of gore, vomiting warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-05
Updated: 2020-04-05
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:01:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23488003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrittingSparxx/pseuds/WrittingSparxx
Summary: but i'm thinking of what sarah saidthat love is watchingsomeone dieso who's gonna watch you die?
Relationships: Genji Shimada/Angela "Mercy" Ziegler, Reaper | Gabriel Reyes/Reader
Kudos: 15





	So Who's Gonna Watch You

You knew that working in Overwatch was dangerous. Every person that you met associated with the organization made sure to tell you that. Training missions and survival exercises pushed you to your limits so that as many deaths could be avoided as possible. But, no matter how much training you put people through, no matter every case that you tried to account for, no matter what, there was always going to be casualties. By now you expected to be numb to it. You  _ wanted  _ to be numb to it. Another funeral, another scenario where you had to wear the black Overwatch funerals and see friends and family cry over someone… It didn’t matter how many times you were in this scenario, it didn’t get better. It was hard to look upon someone else’s grief. Harder yet to live with your own. 

When the Blackwatch strike team arrived back to base just four days earlier, you were expecting a celebration. By the way that Gabriel and Jesse talked about this mission it was supposed to be an easy one. They were going in to extract one person and then return to base completely unharmed. What you got instead was the complete opposite. You had heard that three members of the team were in the hospital wing. That information alone was enough to make the blood in your veins run cold. Three out of the four members were in the hospital. You rushed down to the hospital as quickly as you could, telling yourself that just because they were in the hospital didn’t mean that they were in bad condition. A sprained ankle was enough to make Angela Zeigler worry and keep someone for overnight observations. And besides, if only three of them were there it had to be something simple one member didn’t get hurt. Right?

As you entered the waiting room for the hospital wing (usually where people waited before their yearly physicals), you noticed that Genji was standing over by the doors talking to Angela. You went over to them, hoping that either one of them could tell you some good news. Or at least quell some of your fears. But, as you approached you saw the grim looks on their faces. It looked like Angela was trying to hold back crying, and Genji’s eyes kept darting to the floor. You also noticed the sling around Genji’s human arm. If Genji was hurt and still out here, you wondered how the other three were fairing. As Angela looked over at you, catching your eye, you felt your stomach drop through the bottom of your feet. 

“Where… how… what…?” you tried to sputter out, your throat closing as you tried to fight back the tears that you could feel rising in your throat. 

“Moira and Jesse were hurt pretty badly., They both have multiple gunshot injuries and Jesse’s arm is broken,” Angela explained, her voice breaking a little. “They’re both stable and we expect them to make a full recovery.”

Part of you felt relief when you heard Angela explain that it was Moira and Jesse who had been injured. With Genji that made the three members of Blackwatch in the hospital. And while you did feel a little guilty about feeling relief over two of your colleagues get injured, it meant that Gabriel was fine. He must be with Morrison right now giving him the briefing on how the mission went. Gabriel was fine. He would be back any minute to barge into Jesse’s room and yell at him. You knew how it went with them. Afterall, you had worked closely with Blackwatch long enough to know that Gabriel only yelled because he cared. 

“But Commander Reyes he-” Angela started before she let out a soft sob, her fists clenching as she looked down at the ground. 

You looked up at Dr. Zeigler, noticing that tears were streaming down her face as she clutched her shaking fists against her leg. The sudden realization hit you like getting punched in the chest. It felt like the air around you had been electrified and you were taking in sharp gasps of static. “Dr. Zeigler… What about Commander Reyes?” you asked, your voice shaking. If this was the reaction from Angela, you could only imagine what happened to Gabriel. The only other time you had ever seen her react like this was the last time that Genji had been seriously injured on a mission. And while it was no secret that Angela wasn't the biggest fan of Gabriel's, whatever happened to him today must have been absolutely terrible to get this reaction.

You could tell that Angela wanted to say something but every time she opened her mouth she would just choke out a sob and close her mouth again. You saw Genji reach over and put a hand on her back, rubbing small comforting circles into her shoulder. After a few seconds, Genji turned to you, his face twisted in worry. "Commander Reyes was shot multiple times, and is currently in the ICU. I'm afraid that they don't think he will make it. He lost a lot of blood and has been unconscious since arriving," Genji explained. Even Genji, who was probably the most stoic person you knew, sounded like he was ready to start crying. 

It felt like you were staring at Angela and Genji through a long tube. The words taking forever to reach your brain and process what was being said. Every piece of your body felt like it weighed forty pounds more than it did a few seconds ago. Finally, when you were able to fully process what Genji had just said, you started laughing. This was obviously some cruel joke that Jesse had put them up to. He probably threw a fit until they agreed to do it. This seemed like the kind of cruel joke that Jesse would set them up for. So, you did the only thing that your body would allow: You laughed. It wasn’t a full body laugh or even one that you believed, but it was definitely a laugh. You had to laugh. This was a joke, and the only other response that you had was to start screaming. 

“We… we can take you to him,” Angela said, reaching up and wiping her eyes with the back of her fist. Genji dropped his hand from Angela’s back but you could see him try to reach for her hand before pulling it away, letting it drop at his side. It felt like you could see everything with the sharpest vision you ever had. Everything was in slow motion, slightly warped and making your head spin slowly. You couldn’t bring yourself to talk so you nodded slowly instead. They would lead you to a room and Commander Reyes would be sitting in bed, his arms folded across his chest with an annoyed look across his face that he got dragged into the joke against his will. Of course, you were already thinking of what you were going to yell at Jesse for making you have to go through this. Especially since he knew your feelings for Gabriel were more than just those of Commander/Agent. You nodded slowly, your head feeling like it was a rock connected to your neck. 

Angela nodded, wiping her eyes once again before adjusting her jacket and turning to lead you to the ICU. With every step down the too white hallway you felt your heartbeat behind your ear drums. The beating was all you could focus on. You tried to tell yourself to breathe normally, not worry about it. This was just some joke that Jesse was trying to play on you. Revenge for an old prank that you had long forgotten about at this point. That’s all this was. It was a prank and as long as you kept breathing you would get through it. But still, with your heart beating in your ear and Angela’s low heels echoing off the side of the walls you couldn’t help but keep thinking that what if this was true. What if it was true. What if this wasn’t some prank and when you entered the ICU Gabriel Reyes really would be laying there with tubes going in and out of him? The thought weighed you down than anything. Especially since it made your mind branch off into a million different directions, including whether or not you were going to be needing your black formals soon. 

“This is his room… I… Genji and I will give you time,” Angela said, stopping outside of a room that had the door closed. You looked into room, seeing that the curtain was pulled around the bed. It only made you think that this was a prank even more. Obviously Gabe was behind the curtain waiting to laugh about this whole thing. Both Genji and Angela stepped off to the side, Angela curling in on herself, trying not to cry again, and Genji trying to comfort her. 

Slowly you reached out with a hand that you didn’t even realize was trembling and gripped the door handle. Stepping inside, you felt like the air in your lungs had been removed. There was no quiet giggling or laughter. No second bed or shadows on the ground saying that the rest of the Blackwatch team was in there. Instead you heard low beeping from a machine and the gentle hiss of a ventilator as it measured out breaths for the person connected to it. As you regained the ability to think and breathe again, you couldn’t help but feel absolutely ridiculous for thinking that this was some sort of joke. You knew that Jesse liked to play stupid pranks, but even this one would have been going to far. You also knew that thinking this was a joke was a way for you to cope with the fact that Gabriel Reyes might be dying. 

Actually dying. 

You had seen him turn into smoke before. Everyone had at this point. It had to do with his time in the S.E.P program. Moira had been brought into Blackwatch to try and help stabilize him. To make him able to control his new and strange powers. There had been times when you thought that a wound that Gabriel had sustained would be the end of him, but his ability to heal was nothing short of amazing. Moira had said it had something to do with his cells regenerating at an inhuman speed. Honestly, you weren’t sure what was going on with Gabriel, you just knew that he was invincible. Or at least you thought that he was. He was supposed to be regenerating. He should be healing. But something that happened in today’s attack changed that. Instead, he was laying there in that bed. 

It felt like ages until you were able to take a few steps forward towards the curtain that was around his bed. You had been trying to psych yourself up and be ready for what you were going to see. But as you pulled back the curtain with your still trembling hands you couldn’t stop yourself from letting out a sob. Gabriel Reyes was laying in the bed, face up with a tube down his throat. His eyes were closed and half of his face was  _ gone.  _ No skin, no muscle. It was just bone. You could see through to the other side of his mouth. His chest was rising slowly and in time with the hiss from the ventilator. His hands and arms were covered in cuts that went down to bone and showed muscle. There was a bullet hole in the top of his shoulder. It went all the way through to where you could see the ugly white sheets behind him. It smelt like burnt skin and infection and death. You had seen other agents like this before. You had seen other agents  _ worse  _ than this. But this was Gabriel. Just knowing that made your stomach turn and you had to grab the pan on the side of his bed to throw up in. When you were certain that nothing else was coming back up, you set the pan aside, swallowing thickly. 

You stood there for a few seconds, just staring at Gabriel, watching the machine breathe for him. Not sure what to do, you reached out taking his hand with your shaking one. You noticed that even with him unconscious his large hand seemed to steady yours. Somehow it calmed you and made you more anxious at the same time. “H-hey Gabe. I know you’re in a bad way right now, but I know that you can get through this… You’ve come back from worse, right?” you said quietly, squeezing his hand gently. “You… You’re Gabriel fucking Reyes. You can get through this… Your cells- that’s what Moira said… Moira! When she gets better she can fix you! I know she can!” you rambled, your whole body starting to shake as you started crying. You reached up and wiped your eyes with the back of your other hand. “You… You must think that I’m pathetic, crying over you. I can just hear what you’d say to me if you were awake right now. You’d tell me that real soldiers don’t cry when their comrades die. You’d tell me that I’m being stupid wasting my time being upset over you. But, I disagree sir. I-I think it’s okay to cry over the ones that you love,” you said, wiping your eyes again and looking down at your shoes. 

“Gabriel… Please. Please come back to me. I can’t…. I can’t stay in Blackwatch without you. I love you, Gabriel,” you started begging, the tears still streaming down your face. You knew that you wouldn’t get a response, but the silence was too much for you. You didn’t want to hear the machines or your crying and sobs any more. You didn’t want to stand here begging with someone who couldn’t hear you. You want Gabe to wake up and tell you that you wasted your time crying over him. You wanted to hear him complain about how Morrison would never let him live this down. You wanted to hear that he loved you back. You wanted anything. 

But instead, the only thing that you heard was the monitor start to flatline. 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry you guys.  
> I love you all.  
> Please feel free to yell at me on [Tumblr](https://writtingsparxx.tumblr.com)


End file.
